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Bubble door blown off

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Dusty

Joined: 09 Feb 2010
Posts: 6
Location: Central Maine

Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 8:09 am Post subject: Bubble door blown off

Good news-bad news. A couple of weeks ago I left KMLT on a pretty windy afternoon. At about 1000' I hit a head on gust and the pilot door exploded. That's the bad. The good news was that the door latch actual held and lower half off the bubble caught under my elbow and I was able to retain it all the way back to the ramp. The way I envision the incident is that the wind came in through a gap at the most forward part of the door and caused the door to bow. This trapped more air and so forth and so forth until the bubble and frame (fiber glass) split diagonally front top to rear bottom. Kinda' felt like an explosion! I had a piece of stick on foam insulation acting as a gap seal at the bottom 6'' of the door's leading edge, but it recently fell off and I thought to leave the gap for cooling this summer. The plane's a kit built 2008 CH701 that I bought already flying. I guess I put over 200 hours on it without the door breaking. So I'll rig some kind of backup latch at the door's leading edge (when I get the replacement from ZAC).

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john.marzulli(at)gmail.co
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Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 8:34 am Post subject: Bubble door blown off

This is not the first time a door has come off a 701. The STOL Speed guys have a story too.



During my initial flight testing there was pronounced bowing out of my doors.



My fix was pretty simple ( http://701builder.blogspot.com/2011/07/frabricated-securing-mechanism-for.html )

 I made hooked a rod-end to a piece of all-thread. the rod-end then hooked onto my interior latch.



The all thread then runs through a piece of aluminum tubing attached to the door. The end of the all-thread is honed and inserts into a small hole next to the seats.

 

I could never get a god fit of my doors, so there is plenty of fresh air in the cabin even with insulation strips. 

John Marzulli



http://MarzulliPhoto.net/

 http://701Builder.blogspot.com/

 



On Tue, May 29, 2012 at 9:09 AM, Dusty <dluce(at)midmaine.com (dluce(at)midmaine.com)> wrote:

[quote] --> Zenith701801-List message posted by: "Dusty" <dluce(at)midmaine.com (dluce(at)midmaine.com)>

 

 Good news-bad news. A couple of weeks ago I left KMLT on a pretty windy afternoon. At about 1000' I hit a head on gust and the pilot door exploded. That's the bad. The good news was that the door latch actual held and lower half off the bubble caught under my elbow and I was able to retain it all the way back to the ramp. The way I envision the incident is that the wind came in through a gap at the most forward part of the door and caused the door to bow. This trapped more air and so forth and so forth until the bubble and frame (fiber glass) split diagonally front top to rear bottom. Kinda' felt like an explosion! I had a piece of stick on foam insulation acting as a gap seal at the bottom 6' of the door's leading edge, but it recently fell off and I thought to leave the gap for cooling this summer. The plane's a kit built 2008 CH701 that I bought already flying. I guess I put over 200 hours on it without the door breaking. So I'll rig some kind of backup latch at the door'!

   s leading edge (when I get the replacement from ZAC). [Shocked]

 

 

 

 

 Read this topic online here:

 

 http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=374184#374184

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Dusty

Joined: 09 Feb 2010
Posts: 6
Location: Central Maine

Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 8:59 am Post subject: Re: Bubble door blown off

I see that your additional latch secures the rear of the door. My plane's builder must have had the same problem which he fixed by riveting an aluminum tab (about an inch wide) to the rear of the door frame and bending this tab over the outside trailing edge of the door. To close the door tight you have to warp the door so its rear edge is caught in the tab. I suspect this aggravated my door problem because when the gust of air came in from the front, the rear edge of the door stayed secured causing the front edge to bow further. Kaboom! I see that the Australian w/ the VGs has used a small latch (like that on a tool box) attached to the front of the door frame to keep that leading edge from catching air. It looks like something I could use.

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dougsnash

Joined: 14 Apr 2008
Posts: 281

Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 9:15 am Post subject: Bubble door blown off

Check the CH-750 door installation insructions in the Updates section of the Zenith website.  The 750 uses a pin to hold the back of the door.  Dusty, if you were constantly flexing your doors to close them, that could explain your failure.

  

 Doug M

 CH-701 from scratch (with newer style bubble doors)

 NW Ontario, Canada

 



    

From: Dusty <dluce(at)midmaine.com>

To: zenith701801-list(at)matronics.com 

Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2012 1:00:00 PM

Subject: Zenith701801-List: Re: Bubble door blown off

--> Zenith701801-List message posted by: "Dusty" <dluce(at)midmaine.com (dluce(at)midmaine.com)>



I see that your additional latch secures the rear of the door. My plane's builder must have had the  same problem which he fixed by riveting an aluminum tab (about an inch wide) to the rear of the door frame and bending this tab over the outside trailing edge of the door. To close the door tight you have to warp the door so its rear edge is caught in the tab. I suspect this aggravated my door problem because when the gust of air came in from the front, the rear edge of the door stayed secured causing the front edge to bow further. Kaboom! I see that the Australian w/ the VGs has used a small latch (like that on a tool box) attached to the front of the door frame to keep that leading edge from catching air. It looks like something I could use.





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